Services for Floor
Hi, we have for each category of service, compiled relevant information that you may find useful.
Please note: All information contained within this section is for guidance only. It is best that you check current sources of information.
If you would like to contribute or make a suggestion, please click here.
Please note: All information contained within this section is for guidance only. It is best that you check current sources of information.
If you would like to contribute or make a suggestion, please click here.
Floor
Services
Useful Links
Products
Jargon Buster
Areas covered under this Category are as follows:
- Carpet
- Granite
- Laminate
- Limestone
- Sanding
- Slate
- Tiles
- Vinyl
- Wood
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British Woodworking Federation - www.bwf.org.uk
Contract Flooring Association - www.cfa.org.uk
The British Wood Flooring Association - www.bwfa.co.uk
The institute of carpenters - www.instituteofcarpenters.com
The National Institute of Carpet & Floorlayers - www.nicfltd.org.uk
The Tile association (TTA) - www.tiles.org.uk
- Screwfix
- B&Q
- Wickes
- Homebase
- Buildbase
A to B
- Acclimatising: allowing wood to adjust to the humidity in your home - wood expands and contracts based on the amount of moisture in the air.
- Adhesive: commercial glues used to bond wood flooring to subfloors or together.
- Aged: a chemical process used to deepen and change the colour of new timber all the way through without need for staining.
- Air-dried: timber dried by exposure to air without artificial heat (not kiln dried).
- Angle divider: a tool used by a tile-setter to determine the degree of an angle to cut.
- Antique: original timber of around 200 years old or more, either in original condition or re-machined to a specified size or finish.
- Balanced cuts: the cuts of tile at the edge of an area that will not take full tiles
- Basalt: is a dense rock formed from volcanic lava. It is extremely hard-wearing and has a rich appearance.
- Basketweave: a floor pattern which comprises various interlocking blocks laid in sets of 4, with each set at a right angle to its neighbouring set of 4 blocks.
- Beating block: a wooden block that is used to embed tiles in a flat plane, in a method known as 'beating in'.
- Bevelled edge: term used to describe the edge of a plank which has been chamfered off in the manufacturing process. Creates a groove or 'v' joint between boards when they are laid.
- Block: large piece of quarried slate.
- Borders: simple or intricate designs, which frame and customise a flooring installation.
- Brushed: a manufacturing process applied to the timber to texture the surface.
C to D
- Chevron: a wood flooring pattern which uses interlocking pieces joined at a point to either a 30 or 60 degree angle.
- Chipping hammer: a lightweight hammer that comes in a variety of sizes.
- Click system: a method of joining boards together without the use of glue. The tongue is made with a protrusion that fits into a corresponding groove.
- Compression set: when a solid floor is allowed to expand too much (ie gets wet) the boards move together so tightly they damage each other
- Crown: when a cupped floor is sanded flat, then as the cupping naturally reverses, the centre of the boards then become higher than the edges.
- Cup: this is when the edges of a plank move upwards.
- Cushion floor: a vinyl floor finish with integral foam.
- Cushion-edged tile: a type of tile in which the facial edges have a distinct curvature that results in a slightly recessed joint.
- Durability: the ability of a wood species to withstand conditions with which it comes in contact, without an appreciable change in appearance.
E to F
- End joint: where two pieces of flooring are joined together end to end.
- Engineered flooring: a type of real wood flooring, with a thick real wood veneer or wear layer.
- Face nail: boards nailed through the surface of the plank. Nails are usually punched and filled.
- Feature strip: a strip of wood used at a threshold or to border a room or to otherwise serve as an accent. Usually is a contrasting colour or species.
- Finish: the protective surface applied to wood e.g. varnish, paint, lacquer, oil or wax.
- Flamed: the stone is honed, after which a direct heat is applied. The stone is then wire brushed.
- Flattening: the process during which, after a period of use, the pile fibre becomes flattened, e.g. Static pressure caused by heavy furniture over a long period of time or in heavy traffic areas.
- Float coat: the final mortar coat over which the pure coat, neat coat or skim coat is applied.
- Floating floor: describes a wood flooring system that is not adhered to the subfloor via nails or adhesive. Boards are sat onto an underlay and glued together via the tongue and groove only.
- Floating: a method of using a straightedge to align mortar with the screeds or float strips.
- Foamback or feltback: where the carpet has a "built-in" layer of foam or felt which acts as an underlay.
- Frost proof tile: a tile that is produced for use where freezing and thawing conditions occur.
G to H
- Gauge: this is a measurement of the number of stitches per inch or per centimetre across the carpet width. The more stitches present, the more dense the carpet is likely to be and this will have benefits in how well the carpet will last and perform.
- Granite: has been formed from liquid magma deep under the earth's crust, which has slowly cooled over a long period of time. Granite is a very hard stone, which can take a polish and has a low porosity; it should still be sealed for ease of maintenance.
- Gripper rods: plywood battens with small nails protruding. These are laid spike up around the perimeter of a room to grip the edge of a carpet.
- Hard wax oil: surface-finishing treatment made from natural vegetable oils, mixed with wax.
- Herringbone: a traditional pattern used in the past 100 years to create a interlocking pattern of blocks.
I to J
- Isolation joint: a joint that it is designed to allow concrete to crack at known locations.
K to L
- Lacquer: a finish containing nitrocellulose, often used as a sealer.
- Laminate flooring: hard surface flooring with a fibreboard core and melamine wear layer - comes in blocks, planks, and squares.
- Limestone: is a sedimentary rock. It is made up of layers of calcium carbonate formed from the accumulation of organic matter in shallow seas, which is then turned to stone by millions of years of pressure.
- Load bearing: means a floor type, which can bear the weight and force resting upon it.
- Loop pile: where the pile of a tufted carpet is left uncut to form a loop. Loop pile carpets are popular because they offer textural appearance. They tend to feel harder under foot.
M to N
- Marble: is a metamorphic rock and started its life as limestone, which is then crystallised by immense heat and pressure. Marble obtains its different colours from the minerals and chemical elements in the stone.
- Mexican paver tile: a handmade terracotta-like tile, used mainly for floors.
- Mural: tile that has been installed in a precise area of a floor or wall to provide a picture or decorative design.
- Naturals: refers to any carpet with a "natural" colour i.e. Beiges and pale shades.
- Non-slip tile: tile that has a greater non-slip characteristic due to abrasive particles in the surface.
O to P
- Orange peel: a tile defect in which the pitted texture of a fired glaze resembles the surface of rough orange peel.
- Planer: machine used to smooth the surface of a slab.
- Ply: a board consisting of thin layers of board bonded together and is commonly used as subfloor.
Q to R
- Reclaimed: timber which has been salvaged from use in various other locations, typically, 100 years old.
- Refinished: reapplying the protective surface.
S to T
- Sandstone: is composed essentially of cemented grains of sand, sandstone has a granular texture.
- Shedding: describes how some carpets will naturally shed some fibres in the early stages of life. This is quite normal.
- Skid resistance: a measure of the frictional characteristics of a surface.
- Slate: is metamorphosed shale. Shale is made up of slit and clay that is similar in composition to sandstone except that the particle size is much smaller.
- Species: the type of tree, such as oak, cherry or walnut.
- Stable: the resistance to physical change/swelling.
- Staining: changing the colour of wood through the application of transparent or semitransparent liquids made from dyes, finely divided pigments or chemicals.
- Stitch rate: along with "gauge" this is used to calculate the density of a carpet and is not normally quoted in the retail shop.
- Strain protection: a carpet treatment applied during manufacturing which helps protect the surface fibres from soiling and spillages.
- Strip flooring: solid or engineered boards, less than three inches in width, to be installed in parallel rows, produced in various thickness and widths.
- Sub floor: asphalt, concrete or your bare floorboards.
- Subfloor: is what a floor covering sits on, typically, concrete, floor boards or chipboard. In older properties sometimes brick.
- Terra cotta: a natural tile made from clay, usually in a red-brown-orange colour.
- Threshold strip: a piece of shaped wood, placed in a doorway to connect through different levels or materials.
- Twist pile: the most popular style of carpet in the UK today usually denoted by its relatively short pile length.
U to V
- Underlay carpet: is a layer of cushioning, made of materials such as sponge rubber, foam, felt or crumb rubber, which is laid beneath flooring to provide protection and support.
- Underlay wood flooring: various types used with floating floors. Typically between 2mm - 4mm thick, some carry built in damp proof sheeting.
- Veneer: edged leaf of hardwood bonded to provide surface face of engineered wood floors.
W to X
- Warping: distortion of a piece of flooring from its true plane.
- Wax: resinous, pliable substances of plant or animal origin used for making polishes and other products. Often used on wood floors to create a soft, aged look.
- Weight: often used to compare the merits of different qualities, the pile weight of a carpet is usually measured in grams per square metre.
- Wet area: exterior or interior tiled areas subject to constant or periodic wetting e.g. showers, pools,
Y to Z